A shocked dad has claimed that he witnessed a man viciously assaulting a young woman while onlookers did nothing to help her.

Patrick Collins was bringing his young daughter to school at around 9.30am this morning when he saw a man punching and screaming at a woman.

He said that the alleged attack happened on Main Street in Maynooth, Co Kildare and describes the man as aged in his 30s, "well-built" and his victim was only about two-thirds his size.

Speaking on Liveline on RTE Radio One, he said: "They definitely were not strangers to each other because they walked down the street together and the male had been shouting to the female and punching her, this continued as they walked.

"He didn't kick her but he punched her on the arm and punched her on the shoulder and the back, it went on for a couple of minutes from what I saw.

"It wasn't too far from the square, they came up from the side of a charity shop and turned onto the Main Street, which is when it happened.

"She was trying to hang back from him but he kept gesturing to her to come on."

Patrick said that he did not try to stop it as he didn't want to frighten his daughter or get hurt himself.

He said: "The reason I didn't get out of my car - and I'll be perfectly honest - is that he looked like a big fella who knew how to handle himself, I'm only a small fella, though I know that's a pretty poor excuse.

"I rang the emergency services and I gave the garda on the phone a description of what the two were wearing, what happened and where they were going.

"They had been on the left-hand side of the road and they switched to the right side and you could see that he was continuously punching and pushing her.

"I thought, 'God, this shouldn't be happening.'"

He added: "I didn't want to get his attention because I had my little girl with me and she was quite frightened."

He said that he spoke to a garda who said they would see if they had any units available to go to the scene.

Patrick also claimed that a lot of people saw what happened but did nothing to help.

He said: "The traffic in Maynooth in the morning is pretty heavy and lots of people went into shops and did U-turns and went to the other side of the road.

"A lot of people dived into shops out of the way.

"I think it's everyone's civic duty that if you see something like that and can't intervene then the least you can do is call the gardai."

He said that he did not know what happened after that as the traffic began to move and he had to bring his daughter to school.

Patrick said that he is worried for the woman's welfare, saying: "If he's doing that in street, what's he doing behind closed doors."

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article please contact Women's Aid on 1800 341 900 or visit here